As a result of repeated dealings, today the Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras informed Czech PM Petr Nečas over the telephone that the two Czech arrested by Greek police because of supposed photography of military objects on the island of Lemnos have been released. Both can now return back to the Czech Republic. PM Petr Nečas expressed appreciation for the efforts of PM Antonis Samaras and thanked him,” said Petr Nečas’ spokesperson Michal Schuster on Tuesday.

Both men aged 28 and 33 years, who work for a video game-producing company Bohemia Interactive faced up to 20 years in prison if they were convicted.

The men supposedly rerecorded and photographed strategic military objects to be used in an upcoming military shooter.

After Bohemia Interactive denied that its employees were in Greece and illegally obtained photos as part of their work, the Czech President Václav Klaus also sided with them when he sent a letter to his Greek counterpart Karlos Papoulias with a request for their release.

Desertification effects are already being felt in the midwest with the current droughts. In 10 years those are projected to be come regular and cause rather severe grain price fluctuations. By 2050 it's projected that the breadbasket will have shifted to Canada.

jdreyer wrote on Jan 16, 2013, 01:28:You guys laugh, but when global warming results in the desertification of the US breadbasket and the Ogallala aquifer is used up, there will be 300 million hungry Americans eyeing the by then nice warm Canadians grasslands to grow food on.

jdreyer wrote on Jan 16, 2013, 01:28:You guys laugh, but when global warming results in the desertification of the US breadbasket and the Ogallala aquifer is used up, there will be 300 million hungry Americans eyeing the by then nice warm Canadian grasslands to grow food on.

A) IF that happens its likely far off.B) We do far more damage to ourselves so far with random court rulings. Such as the delta smelt ruling killing off half the farms and farming jobs in one of our best farming regions, the central valley. Basically the court said "ZOMG ZOMG taking some water for irrigation from the river when its going to all run into the ocean is anyway is killing some random minnow like fish! ZOMG YOU MUST STOP"

jdreyer wrote on Jan 15, 2013, 15:30:3. What the hell is Greece so scared of? They're part of NATO and have about as much chance of being invaded as Canada.

It's no secret that the US will one day invade Canada and annex it as the 51st state.

To get what? More snow? :p

Creston

You guys laugh, but when global warming results in the desertification of the US breadbasket and the Ogallala aquifer is used up, there will be 300 million hungry Americans eyeing the by then nice warm Canadian grasslands to grow food on.

jdreyer wrote on Jan 15, 2013, 15:30:3. What the hell is Greece so scared of? They're part of NATO and have about as much chance of being invaded as Canada.

It's no secret that the US will one day invade Canada and annex it as the 51st state. It should be a fairly bloodless transition so I'm not worried. And if it brings me cheap booze and allows me live in New Mexico or Savannah I'm all for it.

On the other hand the Turks want Greece - they have a real hardon for olive oil apparently. However, that would be a rather bloody affair.

“That's it. You people have stood in my way long enough. I'm going to clown college!”

The situation in Greece is so bad that I think they let them go because they fully prepare for a total structural collapse this year. The EU helps don't reach the lower infrastructure and the people.

I fully expect Greece to become a failed state at this point... sidenote: I am watching a travel vlog in German which is truly eye opening, if you think Greece is just having some finance problem you are not even knowing 20% of it. Greece is in a TERRIBLE situation. Hospitals have started using the Triage system. In about another 6 months the situation will become dangerous. By then all those who got fired will lose all financial helps. That means nearly 50% of the people will have no money to spend. And banks don't give out any loans.

At this stage nearly 75% of all economy is down or on the way down. All local businesses are failing. 80% of youths are unemployed, 50% of all wages are on HOLD.

If you think they worry about tourism at this stage.. well let's just say.. things are bad.

1. This game is essentially free advertising for Greek tourism. To make such a big deal over this and hold these guys for so long means that companies that make these kinds of games will go elsewhere.

2. The way Greece handled this event is awful PR for tourism in general. Taking pictures from a public road gets you 3 months in the can? I can't think of a better way to discourage people from booking flights to your country. Oh, wait, that's right, the Greek economy is booming so they don't even need tourist dollars. IF these guys did in fact break any laws, they should have been a day or two in jail while the diplomatic legalities were worked out and released on bail. This is a travesty.

3. What the hell is Greece so scared of? They're part of NATO and have about as much chance of being invaded as Canada.

InBlack wrote on Jan 15, 2013, 10:26:Good for them. Greece should maybe try to extort some cash from Google for taking pictures of their 50 year old instalations from orbit...I sure as hell would give it a try.

Hasn't Google been in almost constant hot water with countries over photographing secret installations? There are spots on the planet that google maps just won't show you, and I think it's because of that.

Creston

Thats true, up to a point. It edits these pards out, but only with countries that its "friendly" with, or rather that the US is friendly with.

There are secret or as I like to call them "sacred" spots in the US, UK, Germany, France, etc. etc.

Its interesting that you can actually take a free look at Iran right now and there are no "sacred" spots there....:)